How to Further Your Music Career

To further your music career you have to be pro-active, in other words you have to be doing something. Sitting at home watching TV and waiting for the phone to ring is possibly the worst thing you could be doing. Having a drink with your friends also ranks very low.

The sort of things you should be doing to further your music career include:

networking

visiting possible venues and getting to know the owner or manager

recording a demo

researching (e.g. places to send your demo)

organising your own concert

I don’t include practising or rehearsing in this list as this is something you should be doing anyway, to ensure you have a product (i.e. your music / performance skills) to sell.

If you are not sure if you are on the right track for success there is one question you can ask. Your answer (providing that you are honest with yourself) will give a clear indication of if you are doing enough or if you should be doing more. Ask yourself:

What have I done today to further my musical career?

If the answer is ‘nothing’, don’t be too hard on yourself. Maybe you have a good reason. Change the question to:

What have I donein the past week to further my musical career?

If the answer is still ‘nothing’, give yourself a little leeway and ask:

What have I donein the past 10 days to further my musical career?

Now, if the answer is, yet again, ‘nothing’, then you really need to make amends if you are serious about having a career in music. And I must reiterate that practising or rehearsing should not be included, as it is a given that you will be doing this anyway.

You could replace ‘musical career’ in the question with anything. For example, if your goal is to release and market a CD the question you should be asking yourself is:

What have I done today / this week / in the past 10 days to further the release and marketing of my CD?

At the end of the day the equation is simple: if you want success you have to work for it. I have found that asking the above questions helps spur me into action.

If you have found this article useful and would like to read more about furthering your music career, you might like to check out my book: